1. Industrial Field of Utilization
The present invention relates to an air-sealing apparatus of wind boxes to be equipped at both ends in the direction of travel of pallets of a Dwight Lloyd continuously movable sintering machine. 2. Prior Art
A Dwight-Lloyd moving grate type sintering machine is an equipment for sintering raw materials containing combustible components being carried on a moving pallet. In this equipment, the combustible components of the raw material to be sintered are ignited from above while gas is drawn in by a suction fan connected to wind boxes mounted beneath the pallets. Burning of the combustible components is moved from the upper toward lower layers of the raw material, enabling the sintering of the raw material on the pallets.
In the Dwight-Lloyd sintering machine, a conventional air-sealing structure of the wind box on both the ore charge and discharge sides is of such a type that the surface of a flat seal plate is pressed against the bottom surface of the pallets. Actually, however, it was impossible to press the seal plate surface into close contact with the pallets because of the pallets' deflecting deformation.
Therefore, there was such a serious problem that the invasion of outside air into the wind box through the sealed section on the ore charge and discharge sides increases energy consumption and processing cost at the exhaust gas processing equipment.
Recently, however, there has been proposed such a sealing apparatus for sintering machine in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open No. 62-38598 that a plurality of seal plates are inclined toward the direction of movement of pallets with the top section of the seal plates bent so as to be parallel with the bottom surface of the pallets, and with ceramics seal plates installed on the top parallel surface. In this equipment, fibrous objects are respectively inserted and held inside of a plurality of seal plates to prevent the deflection of the seal plates, but the sintered material falling from the pallet accumulates in the fibrous objects and disturbs the motion of the seal plates, giving an adverse effect to smooth sealing operation and, accordingly, to the durability of the sealing apparatus. Also, the angle of inclination of the seal plates gradually moves toward the perpendicular side, and the seal plates are pressed into firmer contact with a pallet that has undergone great deflective deformation, resulting in wear or falling of holding members and falling of ceramics plates.